What to expect at Prayer Times

These gatherings are informal, free flowing and led by the Holy Spirit. The objective of these gatherings is for the people of God to intentionally gather, collectively orient our hearts to God, wait on Him and see what happens. Simply doing that, and sacrificing our time to do so, is prayer.

1. Opening / Beginning. At the set time to gather, a leader will begin the prayer time by explaining the importance of gathering, how the time will be structured, and any other information needed.

2. Prayer. The floor is opened for "popcorn prayer." Popcorn prayer means that anyone can pray for anything at any time. This too, is informal. Some will choose to pray out loud from their seats, some will feel led to move in front of everyone and speak, many will pray silently in their seats. No one is expected to pray out loud in front of others if they are not comfortable with doing so.

3. Conclusion. There is no formal conclusion to the service. People are free to come in and out of the prayer time as they feel led. Some stay an hour, some stay 2 hours. The prayer time ends when it ends, usually after everyone has filtered out.

No. People are called to pray as they feel led. Some will pray out loud, some will pray quietly by themselves. Some will receive prayer from others, some will just be.

Many of us, especially those who are early in our faith growth, may be anxious about gathering together for prayer. We may not know how to pray, do not pray regularly, feel fearful of praying out loud and if we are honest with ourselves, may not even believe prayer works. Some may hear others praying out loud with authority, feel that they cannot do the same and again, if we are honest with ourselves, begin to feel "not good enough." Who wants to be a part of that?

The point is not to pray out loud but for the people of God to intentionally gather, collectively orient our hearts to God, wait on Him and see what happens. Simply doing that, and sacrificing our time to do so, is prayer.